patrick trustee platform

8/7/2019 Patrick Trustee Platform

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1www.PatrickforTrustee.com

{

Our Queens

My Promise}

PatrickAllinStudent Trustee
http://www.patrickfortrustee.com/http://www.patrickfortrustee.com/http://www.patrickfortrustee.com/


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Whats Inside

Introduction.......................................................................... 3

Biography.............................................................................. 4

Budget Overview................................................................... 5

Financial and Student Assistance.......................................... 6A Budget Framework............................................................ 7

Homecoming: Bringing Queens Spirit Back Home............. 8

The Queens Centre: Whats Next?....................................... 9

A Sustainable Education........................................................ 10

Controlling Queens in the Media.......................................... 11Online Courses ...................................................................... 12


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whether entire programs are cut or grown

if adequate financial resources remain available to all students

if courses move out of the classroom and onto the computer

the overall quality and reputation of Queens

The student trustee has unparalleled access to senior administrators. The student trustee isresponsible for representing the voices, concerns, and opinions of 14,526 students to both t

Board of Trustees and the administration.

I have developed my platform by talking to anyone who would share their opinions and ide

with me. I have consulted with Queens clubs, faculty societies, senior administrators, the

AMS, and individual students. I have tried to incorporate issues relevant to every Queens

student in here.

Ill be the strong voice on the Board of Trustees that will represent my constituents, not myown agenda. I will not accept no as an answer to an issue that is important to students. I

will always ensure that the Board understands the ramifications of its actions.

Please email me at [email protected] with any questions, comments or concerns. I promise t

respond within 24 hours, both during my campaign and during my tenure as the student

trustee.

Im here to represent you!

Patrick Allin

Queens is at a pivotal point! The Board of Trustees is

responsible for all financial aspects of the University. The Board

approves tuition increases, residence fees, and sets the $700

million budget for Queens The actions of the Board over the

next two years will determine:
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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My name is Patrick Allin, and I am in second year economics. Last year, I was amember of the AMS Board of Directors, which is responsible for the financialoversight of the AMS services. I am currently the Director of the AMS FoodCentre, an AMS service which provides healthy and nutritious food to Queensstudents. In this role, I oversee a team of volunteers which serve to assist thecustomers of the Food Centre. We have increased usage through advertisingcampaigns, which reducing food costs by purchasing food through Sysco.

My hobbies are running, photography, music, camping, and eating ice cream(favorite flavor: Cookie Dough).

I believe that the best way to address a problem is to learn about all sides ofthe story. In developing my platform, I have consulted as many stakeholdersas I have been able to, to learn about the unique challenges and opportunitiesfacing students, faculties, and Queens

Cha Gheill!

Patrick


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This is what the Board of Trustees bases its decisions off of. By 2013-2014, Queens is projected to have an

accumulated deficit of $100 million.

Why is Queens loosing so much money?

Faculty and staff salaries are increasing at 5% per year. In addition, Queens has to pay tens of

millions of dollars into their pension fund

Alumni giving has dropped by over $10 million since 2008

Capital projects, like the Queens Centre, were built before all funding was secured.

What are the consequences?

Program cuts

Less frequent and larger tutorials

Higher tuition

Elimination of 4th year seminars

Cuts in financial assistance

Reduction of Student services, like HCDS

The Elephant in the Room:

Queens and its budgetow is a table of Queens income and expenses, from The Report on the Annual Budget, 2010-2011:


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Financial and

Student Assistance

1 in 2 Queens students receive some form of financial assistance from the

University. I do.

OSAP cannot provide enough finding to cover the costs of Queens tuition and

living in Kingston. Queens maintains a $29 million student assistance fund to helpprovide additional funding to students. This money is vital to the accessibility of a

Queens education, and it is unacceptable that tuition cots are rising faster than

student assistance funding. Given that all students contribute $100 to this fund, I

will make it clear to the Board of Trustees and the Administration that cuts to

this fund are never acceptable.

In 2009, Queens tuition rose an average

of 4.3%, while student assistance only

increased by 2.8%.

With rising tuition, this is unacceptable. I will work to

ensure that tuition assistance never increases less than

tuition.


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A sustainable budget

framework:

Every year, our programs get cut more and more. Tutorials are being eliminated, and

the diversity of courses is being reduced. Everything that makes Queens unique is

slowly being eroded away.

The Academic Plan, Where Next? will be finalized this spring. With the formation of

the academic plan, a sustainable budget and tuition framework must be developed to

prevent poorly thought out budget and program cuts.

Increasing tuition at provincial caps (4% or 8%, depending on the program), and

passing 10% tuition increases for students is not sustainable, and places an

unmanageable burden on many students.

Queens accepted an additional 150 students last year in order to receive more funding

from the province. Ontario gives Queens ~$9,200 per student. However, this has

maxed out the infrastructure resources of Queens - residences, cafeterias, lecture halls,

etc. Also, it is driving up rent in the student village.

I will question the Board as to why there is no financial plan

for Queens. Such a plan would help facilities plan ahead for

budgets, and let the administration know of funding

priorities.

Working with students, I will facilitate an academic andfinancial plan written by the undergraduates. It is vital

that a true response to Where Next?, Dr. Woolf s planning

document, is developed by those who will be affected by it

the most.


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Homecoming:

Beyond the keg

I will lead a student effort to develop a plan with the

Board of Trustees to fund a Queens sanctioned

homecoming.

The cancelation of Homecoming for the past three years, and the future three year

suspension of homecoming has resulted in Faux-coming, a police filled weekend

that is turning away alumni while reflecting poorly on Queens.

Homecoming is essential for alumni engagement. Over 8,000 alumni used to come

back for homecoming weekend. Now there is nothing for them to come back to.

Events like homecoming are what foster the QUeens experience, and engage

alumni for life. The Board of Trustees will be instrumental in bringing back a

homecoming that is a point of pride for Queens.

Bringing back a Queens sanctioned homecoming will require planning that needs

to begin now. A wet Homecoming for Queens will cost hundreds of thousands of

dollars. Planning needs to start now to ensure a sustainable homecoming weekend

for the future.


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The Queens Centre:

What Next?

Queens built phase 1 of the Queens Centre before it even had a majority of the

funding for the $161 million project. Phases 2 and 3 have been put on hold indefinitely.

In 2005, students committed $25,000,000 to the Queens Centre project. In 2007, this

agreement was revised to tie the commitment to the completion of each phase. We are

all paying $141 per year towards this contribution, with no plan for what students were

promised.

The about $14 million of this contribution is tied to buildings that will never be built as

originally planned. In the next two years, this agreement, between the AMS and the

University, will have to be revised.

Working with the AMS executive, I will ensure that a plan for a new and

renovated student life centre is put in motion, which uses student money

wisely for the benefit of the students.


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A Sustainable

Education

Queens uses massive amounts of energy - $15 million worth of water, gas, and

electricity in 2009. Utilizing renewable energy and finding ways to reduce use of these

resources isnt just good for the environment, its also good for saving money, which can

be put towards academics.

This year, solar panels will be installed on 14 rooftops across campus.

Because many buildings at Queens are over 75 years old, there will

be no additional roof space to expand this program in the future.

The solar rooftop project will generate 950kw of electricity on main

campus, and 10mw at the Biological Station north of Kingston,

bringing in $600,000 to Queens every year. Thats awesome.

I will lead the formation of a renewable energy and sustainability policy for Queens while on the

Board of Trustees. No such policy governing renewable energy and buildingconstruction

currently exists. Such a policy will insure that:

All new buildings are built to LEED energy efficiency standards Renewable energy generation is incorporated into the designs of buildings A campus wide sustainability plan is developed with the AMS sustainability office


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Controlling the Media:

Queens Reputation

Queens is a favorite of the media, especially the Whig-Standard and The Globe And Mail. Media

outlets love to write stories that reflect poorly on the University, hurting the reputation of out school.

While these articles are usually biased and unfair, they generate readership from an audience

hungry to hear about the imperfections of a top school in Canada.

The University has done very little to counter the reputation of Queens as having a drinking

problem. Students at every university party and drink - Queens is no different.

The the administration is responsible to the Board of Trustees. It is vital that out

administrators develop a realistic PR plan to promote the student involvement,

opportunities, and uniqueness that is Queens.


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Online Classes:

As a cost saving move, departments are offering some classes in

a web based format only. In some cases, these classes arerequired for a program concentration. Removing the classroom

component of a course eliminates true interaction with a prof,

and instead moves it on to the computer screen.

Many students have told me that online only courses are

never acceptable. Online resources, such as lecture videos

are valuable. However, never having interaction with your

prof is unacceptable, and should not be a part of the Queens

experience. I will let the administration know this.

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